Artist's Berlin Wall Rebuild Rejected By Authorities

Berlin authorities have rejected a proposal to rebuild the Berlin Wall as part of an art exhibition.

The proposed rebuild was part of an exhibition called DAU, an immersive art project by controversial Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky.

The event was intended to begin on October 12 and end on November 9, with a ceremonial pulling down of the wall on the same date the real wall came down in 1989.

Event organisers, Berliner Festspiele released only minor details of the event in August, which included visitors needing to acquire a 'visa' through an online application system to view the fake Wall -- to recreate the "loss of freedom in a totalitarian system".

Image: Getty Images

It gained minor support from some politicians and other artists, however an open letter was published in Berlin newspaper Tagespiegel civil rights activists from the former German Democratic Republic, historians and religious groups slamming the proposal.

“People in a city who have suffered two dictatorships in a few decades need no instruction on what a dictatorship means,” they said.

On Friday, Regine Günther, the Berlin Senator for Transport and District Councillor Sabine Weissler officially announced the proposal had been rejected.